Indian pilots busted with fake licences: report

[Naim 6]

Hope nothing similar would happen here. Reminds me of Air Crash Investigation new episode last night about a Crossair crash, with an incompetent captain.

 

===

 

Indian pilots busted with fake licences: report

 

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

 

NEW DELHI — Indian aviation regulators have found two more pilots with forged qualifications flying passenger planes, a report said Wednesday, raising questions about safety on the country's booming airlines.

 

The Indian duo were flying as captains on flights for the IndiGo and MDLR airlines, but they had not passed the tests to graduate from co-pilot, The Times of India reported.

 

"While the licences are revoked, these cases have also been referred to the police for further action," Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Bharat Bhushan was quoted as saying.

 

Last month, the DGCA revoked the licence of a third pilot, also flying for IndiGo, who was found to have forged papers to get her airline transport pilot licence.

 

The pilot's qualifications and record were scrutinised after she caused damage to an Airbus A320 aircraft by landing the plane on the nose wheel instead of the rear wheels.

 

An investigation revealed she had landed planes incorrectly between 10 and 15 times, Indian media said.

 

Rising incomes and the liberalisation of the airline market in the 1990s has led to an explosion in air travel in India, with passenger numbers up 25 percent over the last 12 months.

 

With new routes and new aircraft being regularly inducted, the half-dozen low-cost Indian airlines are competing fiercely for locally trained pilots.

 

To meet demand, many of them have had to resort to hiring more costly foreign pilots who are often from Eastern Europe.

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hY0R4qe3ebLf6Y8XA4tYxgeYOXCQ?docId=CNG.0f22dda0f0c294a4d2cc6009ec5d466e.451

[Syukri 0]

 

With new routes and new aircraft being regularly inducted, the half-dozen low-cost Indian airlines are competing fiercely for locally trained pilots.

 

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hY0R4qe3ebLf6Y8XA4tYxgeYOXCQ?docId=CNG.0f22dda0f0c294a4d2cc6009ec5d466e.451

 

 

Ttotally opposite of what happened in Malaysia..

Edited March 9, 2011 by Syukri

[Cire 0]

OMG...!! Landing an aircraft using the nose wheel, and on numerous occasion too !! Absolutely unbelievable.. but then its true, that's why it is being reported. I wondered fake qualifications involved profession such as doctors or engineers or not?

[JuliusWong 0]

OMG...!! Landing an aircraft using the nose wheel, and on numerous occasion too !! Absolutely unbelievable.. but then its true, that's why it is being reported. I wondered fake qualifications involved profession such as doctors or engineers or not?

 

We have cases nearer to home. Our ex Work Minister has proven it...look at MRR2 and Parliament roof....okay, am going into hiding...

[Cire 0]

got this from the airline's web...

From the reading, I deduced quite a lot of "tak apa" naunces by the airline..

 

 

"If you want impeccable efficiency in connectivity and low-cost airfares, then there can be no better alternative than flying with Indigo Airlines, founded in 2005 with the slogan Go Indigo. Indigo Airlines India is a private, domestic airline with its main base in Indira Gandhi International Airport and connects 22 destinations such as Hyderabad, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Patna, Cochin, Bangalore, Jammu, Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Jaipur, Chennai, Agartala, Lucknow and Kolkata. By reducing the time and cost of air-travel, Indigo Airways opens a whole host of prospects for its passengers.

 

IndiGo Airlines operates a fleet of 32 aircrafts, comprising of only one airplane type Airbus A320-200, which shows IndiGo’s principle of ‘involving in only one thing at a time, and doing it extremely well’. Indigo Airlines have brought vibrant and transparent techniques with itself. The ground-staff is well-groomed and quite prompt in services and makes certain that travellers know the everyday nuances like take-off delay and other concerns. Indigo Airlines, which is presently operated by InterGlobe Aviation Pvt Ltd. has obtained the civil aviation ministry’s say-so to fly to international destinations after completion of obligatory 5 years in domestic sector from next year onwards.

 

To make sure a comfy and hassle free trip for its passengers, Go Indigo airlines serves a variety of beverage and food items and proffers a really amazing collection of enviable in-flight goods at very compelling rates. It also endows the fliers with a choice to choose seats and pre assign with extra leg-room and avert check-in lines with Q-busters. Besides, today GoIndigo is the only airline of India with a boarding ramp. The professional IndiGo squad makes use of best resources to plan rules and processes that are simple and safe, that cut hassles and waste and that make some [/b]sense. This in turn makes certain an exceptionally smooth, precise, seamless and gimmick free fliers experience at airfares that are affordable.

 

Indigo India believes that it can proffer lowest air-fares by staying concentrated, which keeps its costs down devoid of compromising or cutting corners on certain things that are important. Owing to its outstanding connectivity services, Indigo Airline has won award for ‘Best Domestic Low-cost carrier’ in the year 2008.

 

So do not hold-up if you are returning from somewhere or going there within India, just click on the booking section for Indigo Airlines that provides e-ticket booking. Now, you are set to fly!"

http://www.airlinesindigo.in/

 

well, not saying that the promo article on their web can be the reflection of their services but here's news..

 

A Mumbai-bound IndiGo airlines flight was delayed nearly 2 hours at the Delhi airport on Friday morning after a passenger caused a ruckus over the fact that the plane's pilot was a woman, according to Indian news site IBN Live.

 

A fellow passenger told the IANS (Indo-Asian News Service):First the flight was held up by a slight fog. Then, just when we were about to fly, the doors were opened again at around 9 as a middle-aged man seated a couple of seats away from me objected to a woman piloting the plane.

 

The man reportedly became jittery after the pilot came the intercom to deliver a regular flight announcement and was female.

 

The man started grumbling, saying "I don't want to die! She can't take care of the house, how will she take care of a plane?"

Flight attendants were called and ground staff came on board to escort the man off the plane with his luggage. The whole ordeal lasted roughly 40 minutes.

 

An airline spokesman responded that there was a "mentally unsound" passenger on the plane.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/indigo-airlines-female-pilot_n_828122.html

Edited March 10, 2011 by Cire

[Naim 6]

And we are doing Jet Airways next April, Kolkata-Bagdogra.

[Norman 1]

OMG...!! Landing an aircraft using the nose wheel, and on numerous occasion too !! Absolutely unbelievable.. but then its true, that's why it is being reported. I wondered fake qualifications involved profession such as doctors or engineers or not?

Not sure about the statistics, but there was one I remember vaguely years ago,

there was this bogus doctor going around in HKL, even to operating on patients...

 

and there were also qualified professionals who were not as competence ..

 

And we are doing Jet Airways next April, Kolkata-Bagdogra.

Have a good trip Doc.... Jet Airways not in the list..

[Naim 6]

...

Have a good trip Doc.... Jet Airways not in the list..

 

Thanks, my favourite used to be Air Deccan, now no more since taken over by Kingfisher. I like their slogan: Simplifly!

[Cire 0]

Not sure about the statistics, but there was one I remember vaguely years ago,

there was this bogus doctor going around in HKL, even to operating on patients...

 

and there were also qualified professionals who were not as competence ..

 

 

Have a good trip Doc.... Jet Airways not in the list..

 

 

Didn't hear about that, but I do read about a foreign doctor operating a clinic in Shah Alam. The doctor was suspected when he failed to understand some questions in Bahasa. Apparently, the doctor of Asian origin is hired by a legitimate local doctor... huh?? macam-macam je...

[Denny Yen 0]

 

http://e-newsdigest.com/?p=2760

 

( times of india ) CHENNAI: The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has revoked a woman pilot’s licence alleging that she used forged papers to get her airline transport pilot licence (ATPL), which is mandatory for an aircraft captain.

 

On January 11, Indigo pilot Captain Parminder Kaur Gulati made a rough landing at Goa airport. When the plane flew back to Delhi, its nose wheel developed a snag. Investigations faulted Gulati’s landing technique. She used the nose wheel to touch down instead of using the rear landing gear. She was grounded. Further investigations showed that she had used the wrong technique several times.

 

Bharat Bhushan said the airline could not be faulted for employing the pilot since she had an ATPL licence.

Asked what the airline was planning to do to prevent such incidents, Indigo Airlines president Aditya Ghosh said, “As an airline, we completely rely on DGCA. We will follow any instruction from the regulator.”

 

Sources said touts in Delhi often help pilots speed up the process of getting a licence. “We are not sure if they still function as the DGCA has started to monitor the ATPL paperwork,” an official said. The regulatory authority is now checking if any agent helped Kaur get the licence.

 

A senior pilot said it was puzzling how Kaur managed to land on the nose wheel. “A flight comes in to land with its front tilted down but the pilot lifts the nose wheel as the aircraft is about to land to allow the rear wheel to touch down. The nose wheel is not designed to take the full load of an aircraft that comes in to land,” he said. 

'

[Naim 6]

Fifty-six airline pilots fail alcohol tests in India

 

March 14, 2011

 

Fifty-six pilots working for Indian airlines have failed alcohol tests in the last two years, according to a list issued by the civil aviation ministry.

 

Ten pilots were fired after they failed tests, including one who was found over the limit on two occasions, according to the list released by Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi in parliament on Thursday.

 

The fifty-six pilots worked for the state-owned national carrier Air India, as well as private airlines Jet Airways, Indigo, SpiceJet, GoAir, and Kingfisher.

 

Twenty-three pilots from India's top airline company Jet Airways failed their tests, but the airline did not sack any of them, putting them on suspension and subjecting them to a pay cut instead.

 

The list of pilots was issued a day after two pilots were found flying passenger planes with forged qualifications, deepening concerns about safety on India's booming airlines.

 

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) drafted regulations recently, stipulating that pilots arriving to work drunk would be grounded for three months for a first offence and lose their flying licence after a second.

 

No more such cases have emerged since the DGCA's regulations came into effect in December 2010.

 

Rising incomes and the liberalisation of the airline market in the 1990s has led to an explosion in air travel in India, with passenger numbers up 25 per cent over the last 12 months.

 

With new routes and new aircraft being regularly inducted, the half-dozen low-cost Indian airlines are competing fiercely for locally trained pilots. Many employ foreign pilots, often from eastern Europe.

 

AFP

http://m.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/fiftysix-airline-pilots-fail-alcohol-tests-in-india-20110314-1btfq.html

[Lock SH 0]

This is a classic example of $$$$$ talks ..........

 

 

[Naim 6]

Thousands of pilots to be checked for 'fake licences' in India

 

March 15, 2011

 

Indian regulators said yesterday they would check that thousands of pilots were qualified to do their jobs, after at least four were alleged to be flying passenger planes with forged qualifications.

 

In the latest case, a male pilot working for national carrier Air India was arrested on Sunday over allegations he had used fake documents to gain his flying licence.

 

The country's director general of civil aviation, Bharat Bhushan, told the CNN-IBN television news channel that 4000 licences would now be checked.

 

The first allegations came to light last month, when the DGCA revoked the licence of a female pilot at IndiGo airlines.

 

She was found to have forged papers to get her airline transport pilot's licence.

 

The pilot's qualifications and record were scrutinised after she caused damage to an Airbus A320 aircraft by landing the plane on the nose wheel instead of the rear wheels.

 

"We could see there were some deficiencies in her landing technique," Bhushan told CNN-IBN on Monday. "She had achieved the licence on the basis of marksheets which were not authenticated.

 

"We took a detailed investigation and as a result more names have come up."

 

Two pilots flying for IndiGo and MDLR airlines also lost their licences after the DGCA found out that they were flying as captains without passing their tests to graduate from co-pilot.

 

Rising incomes and the liberalisation of the airline market in the 1990s have led to an explosion in air travel in India, with passenger numbers up 25 per cent over the past 12 months.

 

With new routes and new aircraft being regularly inducted, the half-dozen low-cost Indian airlines are competing fiercely for pilots.

 

AFP

 

http://m.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/thousands-of-pilots-to-be-checked-for-fake-licences-in-india-20110315-1bv1i.html